It’s coming around again. The holiday that one person can dread like the pit of hell itself, but another family member anticipates and salivates for the previous three hundred and sixty-four days before it arrives. “Food, man! Lots and lots of good stuff!”

From the stories we have heard from many families, here is an example of how it can go.

Mom sighs as she takes the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, her whiny thoughts circling like a hamster on a cyclone-driven treadmill. “Here we go again. Jim’s gonna argue against going to Mom’s for dinner this year. For once, why can’t he just play fai...